A Note From a Visiting Sister*

Tis I, am finally putting thoughts to page again, it's been almost a week or a bit more.....

This note is from my brother & sister in law's home out in the country.  It's my husband's landmark Birthday today so I accompanied him for the basketball game viewing of the women's UCONN Huskies of which my family are fans.  They are fans of the men's team too, but for the past several seasons they haven't been doing as well as the gals.  It's refreshing to see that women finally have equal opportunities in college sports-- such a long time coming, & not from the kindness of any one's heart either, it had to be mandated by law-- all connected to the $funding of the various sports programs, the good results of our government at work.  

This past week had been a bit challenging, probably from that down time after all the holidays & birthday celebrations that get celebrated.  So very much to do, all jammed together one after another beginning at Thanksgiving till now.  I wrote an essay last week & may or may not post it, am undecided.  It's one of those stories that if I didn't live through it I truly couldn't have made it up.  Time will tell.  I did share it with a dear friend & she liked it, though it still needs  better clarification in it's ending.  I'm extremely fortunate to have special & dear friends of whom we can share our deepest thoughts, feelings & reactions in regards to our collective human experiences.  Some of us though most sturdy, posses delicate feelings on matters near & dear to us.  It's just the way some of us are made, we are sensitive & soulful, yet feel strongly & passionately on certain matters.  Matters that are impossible for us to ignore, should not ignore.  "To be or not to be...", that is always the question.  

When we were growing up in the 60's most of us had a sense of hope & possibility, it was this sense of hope I believe that led us to strongly oppose the war in Viet Nam, for we were raised with a strong sense of justice of what is right & what is wrong.  Here it is 40+ years later & with this war- [mankind seems to always find a reason to make war], standing at the Peace Corner in our town, though not Thornton Wilder's  "Our Town" nonetheless a town with all the elements of any town USA, of which I will comment on at a future time.  We have the positives & the negatives of course, the kind hearted, & the ones that disregard others due to power seeking, all the elements of any good play or novella.  For this new year I've been reading up on some of my favorites- Dr. Seuses's "The Lorax" and Henry David Thoreau's "Walden".  That's just a bit of where my head's been at, with comments to eventually follow.  

Ahava, & wishing you peace.  

The Snow Seemed To Have Stopped

It's a Monday here in our neck of the woods & very snowy. The trees grace our woodlands with those fluffy delicate branches that break at times due to the weight of it all.  Already several  of the younger ones have been naturally pruned away by this process.  It's always interesting come spring to check out what has been sculpted away, in my garden & in those of my friends. Sometimes the effects are lovely and other times not so.  When a preciously delicate dogwood stands with the scars from one of our winter's storms--- it can be quite painful to view. Other than those episodes the gardens here tend to benefit from the quietness of winter's natural blankets and take care of themselves very well, for there is a break from the insects and any other unwarranted growths. Though now I'm a Nana, I am still quite new to this gardening venture-perhaps 14 years in the process of gardening now.  I have always been a rather patient person so this process suits my temperament very well. Like everything in life, learning is ongoing....  Gardening has given me that hands on sort of metaphor, of looking at life through natures prism.  Knowing that each of us contributes a certain color, texture and form to the landscape of the world at large. 

Today our corner of the world is white, light and feathery. By tonight it will be colder, harder, icy, and slippery-- yet still hold a beauty- a crispness in the night air, with perhaps a display of stars.  I so love the night sky & it's stars.  For me it is always--- time will tell...  Is it not for everyone? 

In all honesty though I love this beauty of winter & the excitement of her storms, I do not like the anxiety that traveling brings to us here.  We have a vine in our woods that grows wild, it has radiant red berries with a residual yellow husk.  I saw this striking vine for the first time some 30+ years ago, we were a new family then, the three of us, & were up in New Hampshire one late autumn.  The Bittersweet Restaurant was charming--  It was an old converted barn with odd fixed windows and that interesting feel that only those old barn interiors give. Now decades later that interesting vine-- the bittersweet is one of our most notorious  invasive species, no less pretty, but a bit out of control in it's growing habits. It is very well know for single handily taking down some of our finest trees, the power and strength of this humble vine--  out of control, yet balance-- all in the same forest.  Yet I will often have fond memories of the bittersweet, a reoccurring topic of nature--  chaos & control, our universe at large.

With that in mind I wish every single one of us-- a beautiful and safe winter's journey-- with great care on the ice for all modes of travel--be it on wheels, on the waves, on wings or on foot. Which ever the mode? May we all be blessed with health and safety this winter's season to enjoy the journey.        

At Home On The Campaign Trail

It's been a few days since my last entry.  Since then we've had a "Surprise Birthday Party" for my husband which we did on Saturday the 5th, it was wonderful!  The hardest part was for our 24 yr. old son, he was the person assigned to keep his Dad out of the house until our guests were to arrive. It was touch & go for awhile that Saturday, as my husband was already coming up with so many projects to do including changing the oil in his car.  Well that never happened as our son got him promptly distracted with an out of town car related errand.  

Being together with family & friends to celebrate those landmark events in life are truly indescribable.  Each one of our three sons expressed in their own words what it is their father means to them-- we raised our plastic cups with the red bubbly that only the classic-- Andre's Cold Duck could provide, the very same cocktail he & I drank so free fully during our first summer vacation in 1971 in Atlantic City, the place of the "Original Monopoly Boardwalk".  We would climb up to the lifeguard's seat our first night there, on that very dark & peaceful beach--taking in the sounds & the vast view of the Atlantic.  Here it is so many years later, toasting my husband's 60th to-be, [he turns 60 @ the end of the month] surrounded by the most special people in our lives & telling them the Andre Story!

For the past few days leading up to the party- the continued planning & the down time- "After the Party" [I believe that's a song I heard last yr. when we were visiting our son in Boston & he took us to this really upbeat, rather hippy-type, ice cream place he thought I would like, which I did!] ,  during these past few days since the party, I've prefer to just plain have some quiet downtime for moi. Going for walks outside-- enjoying this January thaw & playing arround in my Peace Garden.  

I've been able to catch up with friends a little via/email & the phone, our lives continue to unfold, & go full circle....be it a dear friend who has returned from visiting an ill parent far, far, away, or another friend who is able to take in a little ocean time for herself between her husband's illness & her mom's senior, senior years.  All these circles, these cycles of our lives, their orbits, & interconnecting orbits.....

And within these life circles,  within these orbits also flows the political process.....

This afternoon my husband, & two of our sons left for New Hampshire- "These are historic times!", they tell me.  On Saturday during my husbands party two of our guests had to leave to also go to New Hampshire, they felt strongly about supporting their candidate.  The next day my friend said-"The people need a leader they can follow." & here it is the date of the New Hampshire Primary & our Law Student son, & our History Major son convinced their dad that "Yes", my friend's statement holds some shreds of truth. 

For me it's very different--I'm very much "at home", for this or any campaign.  All I want is Peace in the Land, for people to treat themselves & everyone w/ dignity & respect.  Ever since so many years ago when my father was forced to face a very serious & terminal illness- he was mucho big on politics in his life time.  Ever since then, for me politics holds no zest.  People will always be people, & governments will never be able to institute human kindness.  So w/that in mind- my mind's made up----I will always vote, & will always vote for the person who upholds the "Human Kindness Principles"-- "The Golden Rule".  We will all follow our own conscience, our own hearts. Depending on one's sense --time moves slowly or time moves fast, nonetheless, time is ever moving.  Moving us into, & out of these interconnecting orbits, our universal spheres.  "These times will always be a changing...."

                                                           ****Amen****

 

 

This Modern World of Ours

This New Year is only three days old & today I returned to work. It was necessary to go food shopping after work today as we were nearly out.  Two of our sons are home with us for a bit more time, as they will be heading back to their Universities next week. My domestic skills are the bare minimum, thank goodness we all help out otherwise, well one can just image....

It's rather an electronic life we lead it seems---Thomas Edison would be so proud of how far we've come!  Tonight for example my son worked the photo for the banner of this blog. I asked if he would post a new picture for me from my collection, but he said -"Get done with what you're doing now, & you will post it." So that's going to be tonight's tech. lesson.  Meanwhile as I've been clicking away on this key board my husband was using the DVD player in the other room  to do his Qigong practice, as our youngest son was putting together an application essay, & getting input from his brother on this his [?] second draft. So where would we be without these modern inventions? I'm sure we would have improvised-- for with all our modern conveniences comes a heavy price.  We do our best to live green, as our home is a  modest passive solar original. My husband calls it a barn, which it is to a certain extent. We were part of the "Back to the Earth Movement" types, even though our farming skills are rather nil.  To make up for that I do my produce purchasing at the local Farmer's Market or Co-op whenever possible along with the local chain grocery stores which are necessary for us. Today was very cold in the low teens late this pm, & with the long winter ahead of us I continue to marvel at our modern conveniences, taking nothing for granted, appreciating fully humankind's unique potential to create & invent, remaining hopeful that we will find a way out of this polluted quandary we modern humans have created.      

I Have a Dream - ABBA

I'd like to share my favorite song by ABBA.

2008 is Here *

The New Year it is upon us - As always new beginnings for all.*  In time I will become more ample at getting photos up on this blog to share.  For me it's been a series of baby steps in the tech. world, but all very doable for sure. The photos I have in mind are simplistic in their form. Just another way of interconnecting- frame by frame, thought by thought......the rustling winds from this forest.  Today the first day of 2008 I walked upon the frozen, packed yet pliable ground.  It was a gray, wet & dreary kind of winter's day, yet the sunset was pink,--- glowing with the promise that nature always gives to her forest, that in the seemingly chaos of it's weather there is a pattern of the seasons, no matter....... Scientists will call these global patterns what they must, just as a tree will record it in it's rings. 

We sometimes hear the tree fall in the forest, it may even be days, weeks or months after the storm has occurred before it falls & sometimes we do not hear it at all.  No matter, it falls because that is what it is intended to do whether we hear it or not.  So with that in mind I will share photos, thoughts & feelings, for that is my intention too.  Not to convince any one of any thing, as we all have our inner voice, but to gently share like the rustling of the winds.